Psalm 32:8 says “The Lord says, ‘I will teach you the way you should go…'”

Finding your feet in a strange land and with people like Mr. Cabe (that is ‘tsk-abby’ a Zulu name) can be unnerving. I was to visit his little church and take communion because it was not on any bus line and no Zulu pastor could get to it. When I arrived at the ramshackle mud and stick building that Sunday I knew nobody there spoke English and I clutched my Zulu service book and sermon and prepared to spend two or more hours wrestling with words unfamiliar and taxing. I do mean taxing. Any unfamiliar language is exhausting to use for a long time and the Zulu service book decreed two complete services, one for preaching and the other for communion. My labors would be nothing compared to my listeners trying to figure out what I was trying to say!

Then Mr. Cabe, the deacon, told me his grandson’s baby had died.Would I conduct the graveside service? Two and a half hours later, croaking because my vocal cords were all but paralyzed, I arrived at the site of the service. The baby was in an orange crate.The location of the grave was shale and the hole probably five feet deep by four feet wide in layered shale. Did I mention that I had never even attended, never mind conducted a funeral? I’d been in South Africa less than a year. Faltering, I began the service. I have no idea what I was saying or what they heard me say.  But the service book sustained us all because they knew it, probably only too well. Then came the moment to drop dirt on the makeshift casket. 

Nobody told me that you can drop a handful of damp soil down next to the coffin. In any case there was no moist soil. There was no soil at all. So I picked up a handful of shale and dropped it on the little box. It sounded like a small explosion in  my ears and I broke down and wept on Mr. Cabe’s shoulder. In retrospect I believe the family appreciated that show of emotion on the part of the pale youth who hardly made sense. But let me tell you by the next funeral I conducted, I had attended several and studied and learned more Zulu and been guided about customs and procedures. But I believe God lent me the grief I shared with those people that day. How does it go?

“Lead me, guide me, on the way…”    

-Dick Sales

Luke 13:29 “Then people will come from the East and West, and from the North and South, and will eat in the Kingdom of God.”

People used to think Luke was the beloved physician who accompanied Paul. These days all scholars will say is that he was an expositor of Paul’s theology. But there is no doubt that he approved of what could be called the ‘missionary enterprise’ that Paul launched into the world at large. For many years the enthusiasm for world mission was lacking but as the European conquests in Africa and Asia progressed so did the idea of world mission and in 1806 the first US mission was organized among the Congregational Churches and within a decade couples were sent overseas from America to India and Africa and the modern missionary movement was under way.

Missionaries have been blamed for exporting western values and there is some truth to the popular charge that “When they came they had the Bible and we had the land but now we have the Bible and they have the land”. But most of those early missionaries tried to give people what they thought was a world gospel and simply had no idea what ‘cultures’ were.To their credit by 1900 some of them had pioneered anthropology and many had called into question Christianity embedded in western ideals. Nancy and I worked in lands where the churches were strong and flourish also today.

In today’s world mission has changed dramatically. The nations have come and are eating at the table. Even in a country like Haiti we can trust the churches to deal with funds for healing the nation. In Africa, Asia and Latin America great lovers of Christ have become leaders after those early fits and starts. Desmond Tutu is one of a host of strong leaders. We can thank God for the beloved community that can be found the world around welcoming Christians of every size and shape to eat at table in God’s Kingdom .

Dick Sales

Mark 2:1-12:  When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” – he said to the paralytic – “I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them.”

In reading the above scripture I started thinking what would happen today if Jesus came back to earth as a man. What role would I play? Would I be a betrayer like Judas, a doubting Thomas or a self proclaimed Paul? Would I be amongst the modern day scribes or would I be one of Jesus’ followers? Would I have the courage to seek Jesus out so he would put his healing hands upon me?  Would I have the faith to open my eyes and see?

Of course I will probably never know the answer to these questions but I can  surmise what I would do. As I read Dick Sales’ writing the other day I realized then that I play different roles depending on life situations.  There are times when I am at the top of Know It All Mountain.  When I am high on that mountain, life is exhilarating, each moment of the day is exciting and I have a vast amount of energy.  I feel God’s presence in every thing I do — and then comes the fall — into the depths of humility.  In the depths of humility, I am asking God, “where did you go?” although it is not God who has left, it is me who has forgotten to ask God to come along.

In closing I want to say I can only hope that if Jesus came to my door, he would be welcome and when he left, he would say that mine was a home filled with love. 

-Cindy Jones

Luke 22:3 “Then Satan entered into Judas….”

There are two contrasting readings set for February 24th. The first is Job Chapter One, where God boasts that Job is the real McCoy, a truly good man. The other is the betrayal of Judas. And as I read them I couldn’t help thinking how human Judas seems and how unlike us Job is. Job rants and raves that he has done nothing to deserve his misfortune through forty chapters and finally the things he has lost are restored and he is chided by God for trying to challenge God. Job is justified and Judas is condemned.

A newly discovered document purports to be a gospel according to Judas and seeks to prove that Judas was the real champion of God by bringing to pass exactly what God wanted for His son Jesus. The Judas document, dating from perhaps the second century, shows that some early Christians found it impossible to imagine that a person who had lived intimately with Jesus for years could have had him killed.

I don’t buy that argument. I am just as likely to be a betrayer as I am to be a champion for Jesus. Years ago God called me to do something that I would never have done on my own while I was in South Africa. I did what I believed God called me to do in that apartheid land and was declared a prohibited immigrant there. But while I was doing this courageous thing I also felt the magic of the situation in my life and felt I could do no wrong. My years of feeling guilty rolled away and while in my exalted state I was tempted to seek to win a local lottery. I thank God it went no further. I lost and  later became aware that what I had done in the lottery was succumb to one of the basic temptations. I picture Judas as being awed by Jesus and feeling initially that he was ‘in the spirit’ and could do no wrong. Hadn’t Jesus said he was to be crucified? So Judas helped it to happen and then realized what he’d done.  This Satan within is alive and kicking and waiting for any of us to get that momentary rush of feeling that we can do no wrong, that we know a shortcut, that we can ‘fix’ it.  Only genuine humility can keep us from acting out such moments. I know that now.

Lord Jesus, help us; rescue us from the temptation from within and teach us humility in life and love.

Amen.

Dick Sales